1) Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to a computer peripheral, specifically a computer-dedicated auxiliary data access device.
2) Description of the Prior Art
In present day computer processing, in addition to the memory components internally installed on the mainboard and the connected hard disk drives that handle repeated data reading and writing operations, other computer peripherals also installed include auxiliary data access devices such as floppy diskette drives and optical disk drives. Referring to FIG. 1, the most widely utilized such device is the floppy diskette drive 1 into which is inserted a magnetic media in the form of a circular plastic platter 2 encased in a protective plastic jacket 3 (having a thickness of 0.2 to 0.3 cm and width of 9 to 13.3 cm) and analogous with magnetic tape, since principles of magnetism are utilized to store data via a read-write head 1a inside the floppy diskette drive 1, there is no substantial difference between the said type of read-write head 1a and a tape recorder play/record head; since the storage capacity of a typical magnetic diskette is limited, the storage of larger quantities of data is accomplished by utilizing a number of magnetic diskettes, with excessively large batches of data such as graphics files being impossible to archive; even if replaced by a double-sided high-density diskette drive and the compatible double-sided high-density diskettes to obtain a memory capacity of 1.2 MB, the storage of enormous graphics files cannot be achieved in a single access: as a result, the utilization of the said device is extremely impractical. Furthermore, as more magnetic diskettes are purchased for use, the total number of archived material increases continually, with their rather sizable physical dimensions (measuring 0.2 to 0.3 cm thick and 9 to 13.3 cm in width) not only creating considerably troublesome storage management problems, but also resulting in portability inconveniences.
Optical disk drives 4 are considered applications of laser technology, but the reading and writing operations in the optical disk drive 4 do not require a read-write head to accomplish because data is read and written by the two different laser beams, with the storage layer on the optical disk 5 capable of various material changes in response to laser light exposure; since laser beams can be focused to occupy relatively minute surface areas, the capacity of an optical disk 5 is often quite immense, with a 12-inch optical disk 5 capable of storing four gigabytes of data; therefore, a 12-inch optical disk 5 can replace 100 40 MB hard disk drives; generally speaking, while the data storage density available on the optical disk 5 is approximately 40 times higher than that of a conventional magnetic diskette, such storage approaches have not become widespread due to the exorbitant prices of read/write-capable optical disk drives 4; as a result, most optical disk drives 4 today only are read-only units that have no built-in write capability, with data write-in requiring a separate write-capable optical disk drive (not shown in the drawings) utilizing laser fusion recording technology; however, the high archiving error rate of such a complex storage technology makes this approach rather impractical.
In view of the said shortcomings, the inventor of the invention herein, based on many years of experience in the production and marketing of this category of products, conducted extensive research and testing, which finally culminated in the development of the practical invention herein.